Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin qualified second at Nashville Superspeedway knowing that he still might not necessarily compete in Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400. He was on baby watch, meaning he might very well have missed his first NASCAR Cup Series race since 2014.
Hamlin and longtime partner Jordan Fish are expecting their third child, and the driver of the No. 11 Toyota made clear that the priority was the birth of their first baby boy, even if it meant missing the 300-lap race around the four-turn, 1.333-mile (2.145-kilometer) Lebanon, Tennessee oval.
The missed start would have resulted in Hamlin receiving a medical playoff waiver from NASCAR, meaning it would not have counted against his playoff eligibility nor eliminated any of his playoff points prior to the four-round, 10-race postseason.
Truex, on standby, not needed as Hamlin replacement
Ryan Truex, the younger brother of former Hamlin teammate and former Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., was confirmed as Hamlin's replacement, in the event Hamlin did need to make his way to the hospital within the race window.
Truex competed for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series on a part-time basis from 2022 to 2024, and he earned his first career win at Dover Motor Speedway in 2023. He added another win at Dover in 2024 before also winning at Daytona International Speedway. He has made just one start this season, and that came for Sam Hunt Racing in the season opener at Daytona.
But Truex had not competed at the Cup level since September 2014, when he competed for BK Racing at Chicagoland Speedway. He tried but failed to qualify for the 2019 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway with Tommy Baldwin Racing, and that is his only Cup appearance of any kind in the last decade.
As it turns out, Truex's services were not needed on Sunday night.
Thanks to Hamlin's first son waiting a little bit longer to enter the world than some might have expected heading into the weekend, Hamlin was able to add to his playoff point total with a stage win, and his third place finish behind Team Penske's Ryan Blaney and Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar moved him up from sixth to fourth in the point standings.